Saturday, March 31, 2012

New Rules.....

New Rules For The Music Industry

1)
BE TRANSPARENT – No more hiding behind complex royalty calculations. Man up. Be
honest. Provide clear and accurate accounting. The digital world makes it easier
than ever to do this.

This applies to labels, distributors, ASCAP, BMI,
SESAC and anyone else you can think of. They can all be transparent if they
choose to be. Right now they choose not to be.

2) PAY ON TIME! – No more
artificial royalty accounting periods. Returns and co-ops are a thing of the
past. Pay out and account on one way no return sales that you have been paid in
the same month you get them.

The only reason to hold on to the money is
to make bank interest on it. If this is what you are going to do, see #1, BE
TRANSPARENT and tell artists you are doing this.

3) NO MORE SUGARCOATING
AND HIDING REALITY – Seriously. Stop promising things you know you can’t
deliver. Not everyone is going to be a star. Be honest, tell the truth,. Let the
musician and artist know the realities of the market so they can have a better
understand of what needs to be done to succeed or why things are not going the
way they want them to.

4) ACKNOWLEDGE YOU WORK FOR THE ARTIST, NOT THE
OTHER WAY AROUND – Without the artist none of us will have jobs. They are the
ones with the talent. They create culture and write songs that have an impact on
the world. They are allowing us to serve them, not the other way around. This
philosophy and culture must permeate everything you do. Turn this industry from
one that “exploits” the artist to one that serves the artist.

5) ONLY
OFFER SERVICES YOU CAN ACTUALLY DO – No more asking for rights or income from
things you can’t contribute towards. If you are a label and want more money from
other areas (i.e. merchandise, songwriter income, gig income etc) you actually
have to provide a service that does something to earn that right. There are
others out there that are specialists in these areas, can you do what they can?

6) UNDERSTAND THE ARTIST NOW HAS CHOICE – Unlike the old days, artists
can now succeed without you. Labels have gone from a “must have” to a “might
need”. Be clear in what you have to offer and create a fair and equitable deal
in exchange for the services you are offering.

7) COMMERCIAL RADIO AND
MTV NO LONGER SINGULARLY BREAK BANDS – It used to be that print, commercial
radio and MTV were the three ways to break a band, no longer. Fans themselves
have this power via social networking. Find ways to speak to fans directly and
don’t use a middleman. Empower and excite them and they will follow.

FOR
THE ARTIST

1) STOP ASKING FOR BIG ADVANCES – Understand that the
economics of the business have changed for both the artists and the labels. The
goal for artists and labels must be the same: create sustainable working
relationships for both parties. Disproportionate advances only add tension
(economic and otherwise) to an already tense dynamic. Create financial working
relationships based on realistic expectations of ROI.

2) EDUCATE
YOURSELF – It’s no longer acceptable (or charming) to be the un-informed artist
who doesn’t know the difference between a mechanical royalty and a mechanic. You
can’t claim that you’ve been taken advantage of by anyone at this point; the
information you need is out there, and it’s not that hard to find. Learn it,
once you have this knowledge you can then make informed decisions and decide if
the other entity is doing its job. Not to mention, the labels etc already know
this info and so should you.

3) TAKE RESPONSIBILITY – Stating that there
is any person or thing standing in the way of you and success is a cop out. No
longer can you say, “If only my records were in stores, people would buy them,”
or, “If only people could hear my music they would love it.” The gatekeepers
have vanished; the gates are open…go through them.

4) TAKE ACTION –
Waiting for a booking agent before you tour? Waiting for a producer before you
make a recording? Waiting for a label before you distribute or promote your
music? Guess what, someone else isn’t waiting for anyone, and he or she is
leaving you in the dust. The worst thing you can do is nothing.

5) SELL
– Get over the fact that you’re the artist, and asking people for money in
exchange for your art is awkward. The reality is that if your work is good,
people will want to compensate you for it. You must not only give them the
opportunity to do so, but make it easy for them. Be clear and transparent, and
tell your customers that your music is valuable, and that if they want to ensure
that you are able to keep creating the music that they enjoy, that they must pay
for it. Then give them a wide variety of things to buy at different prices.

6) GIVE WITHOUT ASKING FOR ANYTHING IN RETURN – It’s not all selling, of
course, and we are all in this together. Look for ways to help other artists.
Share information, share resources. This is not a zero-sum game; the overall pie
can expand, and we will all benefit proportionately when it does.

7)
DEMAND ANSWERS – if you don’t understand something, ask. If the person you ask
can’t give you a clear, understandable answer then he or she is either clueless
or trying to hide something. Demand a clear, understandable answer or walk away
from the deal.

8) MARKETING DOES NOT ALWAYS EQUAL SUCCESS – The major
labels spent hundreds of millions of dollars marketing and promoting bands. Only
2% of them succeeded, the other 98% were deemed failures. If marketing =
success, they would have had a 100% hit ratio. The reason an artist succeeds is
because the music caused reaction.

9) LEAD TIME FOR STREET DATES MATTER
LESS – It’s not like the old days where you only had a limited time for prime
real estate in a retail store and if the CDs did not sell they would be
returned. In the new model you can release music today, and market later, with
little detrimental impact.

10) IT’S ABOUT A CONSTANT STREAM OF MUSIC AND
MEDIA, NOT A ONCE A YEAR ALBUM RELEASE ­ – The new world moves fast. The best
strategy is to roll out songs, videos, pictures, blog postings, tweets and
anything else you can think of on a constant basis. This keeps your fans engaged
and stops you from losing momentum and going stale.

11) IT’S GLOBAL –
The new music industry is a global one. At the click of a button your music is
available to buy, share, stream and download around the world. Keep this in mind
when you think about where your money is being held, generated and how to get
it.

12) YOU ARE NOT POWERLESS – Music is not food, shelter or clothing,
but everyone likes it and needs it. The music industry currently generates
around $30 billion dollars a year. The entities and people getting this money is
shifting from the legacy companies to you. Within another five years the
collective power of you will be bigger than any of them. You have the power to
change things, and you already are.

As just one example, in the past two
years, TuneCore Artists have earned over $170 million in gross music sales and
have sold over 400 million songs by paid download or stream. TuneCore
Songwriters have earned over another $120 million dollars.

As you sell
more, they sell less.

13) DEFINE YOUR GOALS – Know what it is you are
tying to accomplish. Are you looking to be the next Vanilla Ice or just sell
some music without touring? Is your goal corporate sponsorships or having others
cover your songs? Whatever it may be, have a goal in mind and then work towards
accomplishing that objective. With that one conquered, you can move on to the
next.

DON’T EXPECT SOMETHING FOR NOTHING

It’s going to take work
to make things happen. Either you need to do the work or you must hire someone
else to do part, or all of it, for you. If you understand your rights, how money
is made, and how much you should make, you can make educated decisions...